Thursday, May 30, 2013

We paid a lot less than you'd think, yet somehow this purchase makes me feel very grown up. Like it belongs in a home of someone way more mature than myself. Why is that? Have you ever made a purchase you felt you needed to grow into?

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Hello readers! Did you enjoy the long weekend?
Chris and I just got back from a quick getaway to South Beach, Miami. I'll spare you photos of Chris wearing a Speedo* and get right to the good stuff: the decor and gardens.

We stayed at the Tides. I'll be honest, the location was noisier than I would have liked (I seem to have outgrown the party scene), but the hotel was amazing. Aren't the sunny yellow and white seat cushions just perfect? How about the sculpted boxwoods in concrete planters? The hollowed out stump-chairs? Sigh...

Inside the lobby you see the work of Kelly Werstler. All those tortoise shells! (Totally fake, btw. She didn't fool me.)

Loved these chairs. They kind of mimic the tortoise shells, don't they?

Chris and I spent an afternoon on a self guided hotel bar crawl. (Maybe I haven't totally outgrown the party scene after all...) One of our memorable stops was the patio at the Delano

Where I sat sipping on a fruity beverage

while gazing out onto this...

More boxwoods in concrete planters. I am obsessed!

Let's move on to the Raleigh.
I had a bit of hotel envy when we stepped onto the deck. I mentioned in a previous post that we stayed here the last time we were in Miami and I felt a pang of regret that we decided to try somewhere new. The grounds here are just gorgeous. Not to mention the pool. omg, the pool!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Progress on our living room has been slow, but we're starting to make some headway. Most recently, we've come to a decision on the crown molding profile. Easier said than done. This has been a topic of conversation ever since we moved to Hazard Ave. (Interestingly, the house didn't have original crown when we moved in.) Being a "formal" living room and all, we want it to stand apart from the other more casually used rooms in the house. It needs to be a little fancy.

We've been back and forth on just how fancy. We both love jumbo dentil molding.

But ultimately decided that this may not be right for our house. Plus it has a high probability of looking like a hack DIY job if done incorrectly. So we finally settled on a profile that still has a lot of detail but is a little more subdued: egg and dart.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

The Norwood Maple in front of our house was probably planted around the time our house was built. We were aware when we moved in that the poor tree was diseased and would need to be removed, but I dreaded the thought. One of the charms of my neighborhood is its streets lined with established trees.

Last summer it was looking especially bad. It was clearly time to take action. Where we live, the trees planted on the curb are the property of the city, so I called them to take a look.

Then completely forgot about it.

Last week we were a little surprised to see half of it gone!

Seems it is our now responsibility to get rid of the unsightly stump.

Update: I love having a blog with such knowledgable readers...Per some of the comments, I contacted our city's forestry division to ask about the stump. The receptionist told me that the city WILL remove the stump, but it may take up to 10 months. She said we could remove it ourselves with a permit. Thanks readers!